Anyone training for the NCOM ultra race near Big Bend, Texas in October? I’m building a training and race plan for the 225 mile race. It’ll be fun to say hey and buy any TR users a round of carbs after the race.
I’ve just started SSB1, and created custom TR workouts through Best Bike Split for Mt. Davis loop. I’m also testing out Tailwind nutrition to see if that’ll work for me in the race.
I absolutely love this race. I failed the 208 in 2019 due to patellar tendinitis unfortunately. But this is a super cool event in my favorite part of the state. I think they’re probably going to go back to the traditional routes (not the Davis Mtns loop) for this year. They just changed to the loop route for 2020 so folks could self crew and avoid COVID issues with finding a follow car crew.
If I can make it work with family and work schedules this year, this will be my A race for the year (the 208mi route). As far as training, I’m going to mostly focus on extensive sweet spot work (see the Sweet Spot progressions thread), as that has seemed to give me some really good results as far muscular endurance for these long races, with some higher intensity short blocks sprinkled in throughout the year.
I’m just super pumped that someone else is talking about NCOM on this forum! 
Fantastic - yeah, I agree it’s definitely one of the best parts of the state, which is what drew me to it. Hope you can make it - I’m lucky that my birthday is in October so I told my family that we’re taking a trip to Marfa for my birthday.
That would be great if they changed the route so it’s less repetitive - I was mildly disappointed to see it looks like a 3x loop, but most of the other ultra races organized by Holland Racing seem like they’re loops so I thought it might just be their modus operandi.
And yeah - basically turned the Davis Mountain loop into a 4.5 hour sweet spot workout… I don’t know if it’s a good idea or not but I think I’m going to try to add that into my TR calendar probably twice, and do maybe three? 150 mile outdoor rides between now and October. Hopefully those five rides will help me dial in my nutrition plan and equipment.
What are the roads like in your opinion? I was looking at some of the finishing times last year, and compared to rough power plans on Best Bike Split it seems tougher than it looks on paper. It’s a whole lot of DNFs and finishing times more in the 13 to 15 hour range.
Awesome. That’ll be a heck of a birthday trip.
Yeah, NCOM was created and originally run by Dex Tooke, RAAM finisher and Texas cross-state record holder. Dex is about 70 now and handed off the reins to Holland after 2019. I believe they intended to keep the original route (208, 383, and 1000) but made the changes for last year only and haven’t re-updated the website yet. I’ll see if I can dig up the route maps later and post them.
The roads are indeed tough. It’s not as bad as some of the chip seal in the hillcountry here around San Antonio, but it’s not super smooth. There’s an out and back on boy scout ranch road NE of Ft Davis on the 208 route that is especially rough. In addition, the mountains do some weird things out there and you can get what feels like a head/head-cross wind in every direction. At the very least, I remember the climb back to Ft Davis from Boy Scout Ranch Road being tough. ~1% grade, brutal headwind, and rough roads for like 40mi. I was struggling to maintain 10mph, although part of that was thanks to my knees. Would definitely recommend aerobar clip ons, despite all the climbing.
Thanks that’s super crazy and helpful! Yeah, some of the splits from last year were around 10 -11 mi/hr from what otherwise looked like strong/ well trained riders.
Thanks!
Update - registration for 2021 goes live by July 1!
My brother and I are in the Houston area. He did the loop course last year. I did the original big loop in 2018. I think we’re both on the fence for 2021. It’s a long drive from Houston to Alpine, and I won’t do it for a 3-loop course. I’d like to do the 383 sometime, as riding through Big Bend and doing the climbs there would be spectacular, but there’s no way I could get my wife to follow car at night for that long.
If you’re interested in a prep event, Texas Time Trials has a 12-hr division that would be perfect…long duration but less wind, no extended climbs, and no crew necessary.
That’s a great idea - and perfect timing. Thanks for pointing that out!
that’s half of the flyin’ Shotts right there…
I posed the question about the route to Holland on Facebook and we’ll see what the response is, but based on their website right now, it looks like (sadly) it’s still going to be the loop this year.
Yeah, I saw that - it looks like they’re still working on the details so I’m crossing my fingers.
Andrew just messaged me that it’ll be the same 75=mile loop as last year for all race distances.
Interesting - I can see how that simplifies logistics for them, but I wonder if people will be less likely to participate. It’s a big drive out there from pretty much any city and one of the main attractions for this race is the route and the beauty of that part of the country.
Aww man, gutted to hear that. I guess that makes the race more financially feasible, but the original routes had such a daunting mystique to them and it feels like the loop just doesn’t have the same feel to it and you don’t experience the varying terrain and scenery throughout the region. Hope they get back to the RAAM-style race again in the future.